In the Dark
by therealblondie11
Summary: Zoe and Francis are kindapped and held in a cell together. One  word... Franoe!  Written for a story swap with Cookie VanDeKamp
1. Chapter 1

Zoë and Francis were walking through the woods together. Zoë was helping Francis out with his chores, which meant helping him find certain herbs and plants for his mother, Grassina.

They were deep in the woods when Francis got a strange feeling that they were being watched.

Looking over his shoulder, he closed the gap between himself and Zoë, his right hand fingering his sword. Nobody was going to mess with his best friend while he was around….

Suddenly, they were surrounded. Every way he turned, Francis saw someone standing in his way. They weren't from Greater Greensward, Francis was positive about that. Who they were exactly, however, was beyond him.

"Zoë," He whispered, so the others could not hear him. "As soon as you can, I want you to get out of here, okay?"

Zoë nodded her head.

Francis drew his sword, ready to fight them off. He knew that he was outnumbered, but that didn't stop him.

In the span of about three seconds, the surrounding men attacked and both Zoë and Francis's worlds turned black.

OoOoOoO

Francis awoke with a splitting headache.

He was in a dark chamber. The only source of light came from a drainage pipe, which led outside. Francis could hardly see anything in the dim room, but he thought he heard sniffling coming from the corner farthest from him.

"Hello?" He said.

"Francis?" said the voice from the corner.

"Zoë?" asked Francis.

Slightly relieved at having someone she knew with her, Zoë threw herself at Francis, burying her face in his vest. She was shivering. She was wearing light clothes, for the day had been warm. Down in their cell, however, everything was damp and cold.

Francis removed his vest and placed it around Zoë's shoulders. If they huddled together, hopefully it could keep them warm… at least until they found a way out of this.

They fell asleep, staying close together. Francis's last coherent thought was a promise he made to himself.

_I'll get us both out of here, if it's the last thing I do._

A/N: Heeey! I know some of you are probably wondering why I'm starting a new story when I barely update the ones I have… Well, all I have to say is that I couldn't resist a story swap.

**I know this first chapter is a bit… well… serious. But it's going to get better as it goes on.**

**Any ideas as to who kidnapped them? Predictions to what might happen next? Let me know in the reviews! **


	2. Chapter 2

Francis woke up the next morning – at least, he thought it was morning. It was still dark in the cell, so he couldn't tell. – feeling oddly warm, despite how cold the room still was. Still drowsy from sleep, he didn't realize why until something shifted slightly in his arms. He looked down and saw Zoë curled against his chest.

He made to lay her down, but found that he didn't want to let her go. So he waited for a while longer until she woke up.

She opened her eyes blearily, yawning and stretching as she began to wake up.

"Morning, Sleeping Beauty," Francis smirked.

"Morning…" muttered Zoë. Her stomach grumbled hungrily and Francis got up and searched the cell.

There was a small bit of bread and a glass of water in the corner near the door. Francis continued looking for a second serving but found nothing. He gave the plate to Zoë, claiming that he was fine and had eaten while she was asleep.

Zoë, believing his lie, devoured the bread and water in about thirty seconds. She then made her way around the cell, feeling the walls and floor for any possible ways of escaping.

After thoroughly searching the entire area, Zoë gave up and sank to the floor. Francis, however, had another idea.

He quickly muttered a spell under his breath… Nothing happened. He tried another, also with no success. Francis tried about a dozen different spells that he thought could get them out of there, but nothing worked.

"Crap," He said. "It's magic proof."

That was when Zoë lost hope. She gathered her knees to her chest and let out a small sob. Francis, feeling helpless, knelt beside her and rubbed her arm in a consoling kind of way.

"I n-never g-got to say goodb-bye to m-my f-f-family!" She wailed. "And n-now I m-might n-never see them again!"

Francis pulled her into a hug and she cried into his shoulder.

"Shhh, don't give up, Zoë. You'll see them again. I promise." But the entire time he said it, Francis knew it was going to take a miracle to get them out of this…

OoOoO

When evening came around, another plate was passed through the door. Whoever it was that sent it, however, kept themselves hidden in the shadows.

Despite his protests that Zoë take it all, she split the bread in half and they ate their share of the food in silence.

"Hey, Zoë?" He said, dusting the crumbs from his jacket.

"Hmm?"

"Who do you think is the person behind this all? I mean, who would hate us enough to keep us here?"

"I… don't know," she said thoughtfully. "But whoever it is will be receiving a major butt kicking when I get out of her."

"Now, now," said a voice. "There's no need for violence."

The thing they both had been wondering most was answered when a man stepped out of the shadows.

**A/N: Ooooh, who could it be? :D**


	3. Chapter 3

The man had blonde hair which was starting to recede, and his bright blue eyes were squinting, trying to adjust to the dark. It was obvious that he must have been handsome, back in his day.

"Who are you?" Zoe asked, not bothering to hide the anger in her voice.

"I'm Jorge, prince of East Aridia." Said the man.

"You mean you're the psycho who tried to take Greater Greensward by force and then ended up married to the Troll Queen?" Zoe replied.

"Um… maybe…" Jorge said.

"Ha, loser," snickered Zoe.

"I wouldn't be saying things like that if _I _was the one being held in a cell." Said Jorge, who was becoming quite red in the face.

"Why are we in here? What did we ever do to you?" Francis tried to ask, but Zoe kept interrupting, insulting everything about Jorge.

"-and your nose, I mean really, I feel bad for you!" Zoe laughed.

Jorge narrowed his eyes at Zoe.

"Why, I should just…." Jorge said in a threatening tone.

"Gonna finish that, or are you too coward?"

Jorge growled and stomped off, saying, "You're going to pay for this!"

Zoe was smirking to herself, but Francis was less than pleased.

"What is _wrong _with you?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Zoe said.

"I mean that I was so close to figuring out why we're here and you had to go and insult him like that! Couldn't you see I was doing something important?" he was nearly yelling now.

"Well, excuse me for not being so polite to the man holding us captive!"

"Maybe you should just keep your mouth closed!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

They both stomped to opposite corners of the cell, refusing to talk to one-another.

Francis did feel sorry for yelling at Zoe like he had, but he was still too mad at her to apologize.

OoOoOoO

Night came and they both fell asleep in their corners. When Francis woke up he searched the cell for the bread and water that was provided for breakfast, but there wasn't anything. He figured it had something to do with Zoe's little outburst yesterday.

Zoe woke up not too long after and, realizing she was awake, Francis spoke.

"There's no food this morning, in case you're wondering." He said.

"But I'm hungry!" Zoe whined.

"Well you should have thought of that before rattling off insults to the provider of food!" Francis retorted.

Zoe glared at Francis and neither of them spoke to each other for the rest of the day.


	4. Chapter 4

Garrid was beginning to get worried. Zoe hadn't come home since she went off to help Francis yesterday afternoon. He began to pace back and forth. Li'l tried to calm him down, but Garrid wasn't going to calm down until his little girl was back.

"Maybe we should check with Emma and Grassina," Li'l suggested. "She could have gotten back late and spent the night at one of their houses. Maybe she just forgot to tell us. I mean. It wouldn't be the first time that happened."

"If that's the case, she'll be in major trouble when she gets home." Garrid replied, setting off towards the castle. Li'l, thinking he might get himself into trouble, decided it was best if she went along, too.

They found Emma in her tower. After a quick glance around the room Garrid found that Grassina and Haywood were already there.

"Is Francis with you?" Grassina asked as soon as Garrid and Li'l entered the room. Her hair was a mess, like she had run her hand through it too many times. Her eyes were pleading and worried.

"I was about to ask you the same thing. Did Zoe stay with either of you last night?" asked Garrid.

"I haven't seen Francis or Zoe since I sent them off to find herbs for a potion I was making… Oh, this is all my fault! If I hadn't sent them off…" She didn't finish her sentence, but instead flopped into a nearby chair and buried her face in her hands.

"Aunt Grassina, this isn't necessarily your fault. I'll use my far-seeing ball to try and find them. It could be they just got lost." Said Emma, as she fingered the crystal ball which hung around her neck. She muttered a quick spell and a scene appeared in the ball.

Francis and Zoe were asleep. Zoe was curled up in Francis's arms and they were both shivering slightly. Zooming out slightly, Emma was able to see the dark and gloomy cell they were held in.

Suddenly, the scene disappeared and no matter what Emma tried to get it back, the crystal ball stayed clear.

"I think they're being held captive," Emma said finally.

"Who would do that?"

"Where are they?"

"How did they get there?"

"Are they alright?"

The questions were spewed so fast that nobody could tell who asked what.

"I don't know," Emma said. "Something interfered with my far-seeing ball and I can't get the image back. They seem to be alright though, if a little cold."

"Well, what are we doing hanging around in this tower?" demanded Garrid. "We should be finding them! That's my daughter!"

"Garrid, I think you need to calm down." Grassina said softly.

"No! I will not calm down! Especially if the reason she's being held captive is because of your son!"

"You don't even know what happened!"

In the midst of their arguing, Eadric walked in.

"Hey, Emma," He called out from the doorway. "Do you have any of those nice berry tarts you made left over from yesterday?"

He stopped walking, however, when he got to the room and saw the scene before him.

"What the…?" he said.

"Francis and Zoe were kidnapped." Emma said. "We need to send out a search party."

**A/N: So this chapter was a mandatory chapter in this story-swap according to Susie. Being a Garrid fangirl and all, she had to include her in the rules somehow.**

**I hope you enjoyed this latest chapter!**

**-Emma-and-Eadric-forever**


	5. Chapter 5

The next day, Francis and Zoë still refused to talk to each other. They hadn't gotten any food, only a glass of water which they shared between each other.

Francis was feeling increasingly sorry for his outburst at Zoë the day before. He wanted so badly to apologize to her, yet no words would come to him. Instead, he spent the day trying to think up plans of escape, each one more ridiculous than the last.

It was late, and Francis decided that he should probably go to bed, seeing as his latest idea was to summon some mice to take on Jorge.

Rolling up his vest as a pillow, Francis settled down to go to sleep. He was just about to doze off when he heard Zoë sniffle. He tried to pass it off as allergies, but he couldn't ignore her anymore once she started to cry softly in her sleep.

Sighing, Francis got up and crawled over to where she lay. Her body shook slightly as his hand grazed her arm gently. The guilt that had been eating away at Francis became unbearable as he thought of the fact that Zoë was probably crying because of him.

"Zoë," he whispered, so as not to wake her. "Zoë, I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have yelled at you, and I'm sorry that I did. I'm just so frustrated with myself that I let this happen to the both of us. I don't know how I'm going to make it as a knight if I can't even keep you safe..."

Francis lay down facing Zoë and wrapped his arms around her gently. Her crying slowly quieted and she buried her face in Francis's shoulder.

When her breathing was evened out again, Francis continued talking.

"I know you think of me as your best friend, but I think I love you, Zoë. I know Millie knows, because she cornered me one day, but I made her promise not to tell. I don't want to ruin the friendship we have. I just... I hope that one day you can maybe love me too," he whispered, before kissing her nose slightly and falling asleep himself.

OoOoO

"_What _are you _doing_?" Zoë shrieked, waking Francis up.

Blearily, he opened his eyes.

"As far as I can tell, I'm not doing anything..." Francis replied.

"You think that just because you apologize you can go and suffocate me in your sleep?" Zoë demanded.

"I didn't realize I was- wait. You heard me apologize?"

"Of course I did. You were whispering right in my ear. You know I'm a light sleeper!"

"How... how much did you hear?" Francis asked, blushing furiously.

"Oh, you know, you apologized for being a jerk, told me you loved me, then kissed me nose. So pretty much everything," Zoë replied, smirking.

"I... I can explain... Uh..."

"It's okay, Francis," Zoë said, still smirking. "You see, I think I love you too."

And then she kissed him.

**A/N: Oh, well... I kind of don't like this chapter, but it had to be written! I can't be happy with every single chapter now, can I?**

**I know this seems like an AWESOME place to end the story, but you see, they're still being held hostage... so it's not over yet! :P**

**Oh, also, a big thanks to Cookie VanDeKamp for editing this chapter and uploading it for me when my computer is retarded! I owe you one!**

**Reviews are greatly appreciated!**

**-Emma-and-Eadric-forever**


	6. Chapter 6

Garrid was a wreck. He had been out with the search party all night and they were no closer to finding Zoë and Francis.

Emma had only been able to get her far-seeing ball to work once more before it blocked her out completely. She suspected that there was someone with magical abilities helping with this, and warned everyone in the group to be aware and on the lookout.

Garrid's feet were dragging, he was exhausted. The only thing that kept him going was the fact that his daughter was being held captive somewhere and could very well be in danger. Every time he thought of this, he gained a burst of energy and a growing hatred for whoever did this to her.

He made up his mind then and there that the person behind all of this was going to pay; he would make sure of that. 

OoOoO

Zoë woke up feeling warm and safe, and for a moment she thought that everything had all been a dream and she was curled up safely in her bed at home. But then she opened her eyes, and instead of being wrapped up in her favorite quilt, she was instead wrapped in Francis's strong arms.

Now that she and Francis were talking again, Zoë only had one thing on her mind. And that was to find a way to get out of the terrible place they were being held in.

She gently shook Francis awake. 

"What?" he asked, concerned that something had happened. 

"We're getting out of here Francis. Today," she replied, a determination in her eye that made him believe her completely. 

OoOoO

The search had been going on for a week now, and they still hadn't found Zoë.

Garrid was heading out early that morning to join in the search after some much needed rest.

His party wandered through the woods for hours, but it wasn't until around noon that anything happened.

"Sir! We've found a trail!"

Garrid's heart started beating faster as he ran towards the evidence. He was going to find his little girl.

**A/N: So, I've been the laziest author ever recently and I really need to stop that. The main reason, actually, that I updated this story is because the person who did this story-swap with me is celebrating her birthday today! Happy birthday, Susie! Hope you like this birthday present. :)**

**Poster's Note: …aaand by "today," she means "October 6," because I am the laziest POSTER in the world. Sorry, Liz!**


End file.
